Digital audio workstations (DAWs), and their video equivalents, non-linear editors (NLEs), facilitate editing of audio files that have been previously recorded. A common editing technique used to set the dynamic range of an audio file involves passing the audio file through an audio compressor. The compressor is usually programmed with a threshold, and when processing an audio file, attenuates sections of the audio file with amplitudes above the threshold, while not attenuating sections of the audio file with amplitudes below the threshold.
Proper setting of the threshold of a compressor can take significant effort using conventional techniques. For example, trained audio engineers may listen to a section of audio multiple times to set the threshold. To do so, the trained audio engineers rely on amplitude of the audio displayed on audio meters and nuances in the perception of the audio that would be lost on neophytes. Additionally, in conventional techniques the trained audio engineer may be forced to repeat the process of setting the compressor threshold multiple times, starting over each time, and try different compressor threshold values for the audio file until the trained audio engineer is satisfied. These efforts often result in significant time expended.
Furthermore, proper setting of the compressor threshold can take significant training to achieve an acceptable result. For example, experience is required to understand how much audio compression will occur over the length of an audio file, and judge if there is too much or too little audio compression. For the novice user, who does not understand how to properly set the threshold of the compressor, the compressed result is almost always poor quality, because the novice user's lack of training usually results in little more than a blind guess at setting the compressor threshold.